ainsworth



(No Model.) 4 Sheets-Sheet 1.

W. AINSWORTH, R. P. STRAOHAN & G. HENSI-IAW. APPARATUS FOR PRINTING PAPER BAGS IN CONNECTION WITH PAPER BAG MAKING-MAGHINERY.

No. 419.399. Patented Jan. 14, 180.

(No Model.) I 4 sheets-sheet 2. W. AINSWCRTI-I, P. STRACHAN 82; Cr. HENSHAW. APPARATUS FOR PRINTING PAPER BAGS IN CONNECTION WITH PAPER BAG MAKING MACHINERY.

No. 419,399. 3' PatenteQJan. 14,1890.

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' 4 SheetsSheet 3. W. AINSWO-RTH, R. P. STRAOHAN 85 G. HENSHAW. v APPARATUS FOR PRINTING PAPER BAGS IN CONNECTION WITH PAPER Patented Jan. 14, 18901.

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r A la w/ BAG MAKING I MACHINERY.

' (No Model.)

(No Model.) 4 sheets-Shea 4.

W. AINSWORTH, R. P. STRAOHAN & G. HENSHAW. APPARATUS FOR PRINTING PAPER BAGS IN CONNECTION WITH PAPER BAG MAKING MACHINERY.

No. 419,399. Patented Jan '14. 1890.

UNITED STATES ATENT FFICE.

WILLIAM AINSTVORTH, OF ACCRINGTON, COUNTY OF LANCASTER, AND ROBERT PRICE STRACHAN AND GEORGE IIENSHATV, OF BRISTOL, COUNTY OF GLOUCESTER, ENGLAND.

APPARATUS FOR PRINTING PAPER BAGS IN CONNECTION WITH PAPER BAG- MAKING MACHINERY.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 419,399, dated January 14, 1890.

Application filed March 14, 1889. Serial No. 303.349. (No model.) Patented in England December1'7, 1888, No. 18,392 in France February 4, 1889, 110.182,?47; in Belgium February 4, 1889, No. 68,344, and in Germany February 4, 1889,1T0. 7,738.

To all whom it puny concern.-

Be it known that We, WILLIAM AINSWORTH, a subject of theQueen of Great Britain and Ireland, residing at Perth Street, Accrington, in the county of Lancaster, England, and

ROBERT PRICE STRACHAN and GEORGE HEN- SHAW, also subjects of the Queen of Great Britain and Ireland, residing at Long Row,Vic-

' toria Street, Bristol, in the county of Gloucesenable others skilled inthe art to which it appertai'ns to make-and use the same.

Letters Patent have been granted for this invention as follows: Great Britain, No. 18,392, dated December 17, 1888; France, No. 182,747, dated February 4, 1889; Belgium, No. 63,344, dated February 4, 1889, and Germany, No.- 7,738, dated February 4, 1889.

This invention relates to certain improvements in. printing machine-made paper bags during or on completion of the processes of manufacture and either after or before drying them.

The improvements are applicable for use in connection with any kind of paper-bagmaking machines, but more especially with continuous-action machines, particularly of those types known as Spences, otherwise called the Union, and Satchel machines, or oblong orsquare bottomed continuous-action machines or any of the various modifications thereof, or machines wherein bags are formed direct from a web of paper drawn continuously from a roll, then folded into a tube over a former-plate, this tube being next cut into lengths to form bags, and the folding, pasting, and forming the bottom of the bags being all performed while the bag-blanks continue in actual motion.

Our invention has for its object to provide an efficient printing apparatus applicable to such bag-making machines which shall print every bag delivered from the machine whatever its dimensions may be, so that bags of any desired dimensions may be automatically manufactured, printed, and completed during and by a series of consecutive processes on one machine without manual assistance.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a part side elevation, 2 is a longitudinal section, and Fig. 3 a plan, of our improved adapted for printing the bags in two colors.

The printing apparatus consists of a rotary cylinder A, covered with blanket felt or other suitable material, and a rotary formcylinder B, carrying the stereotype or other printing surface or surfaces 1). These two cylinders A and B are called hereinafter the printing-cylinders. Their length is determined by the width of the bags and the number of streams of bags any given machine can deliver, and their circumferential dimensions should equal or exceed one or more of the longest bags to be printed. The circumference may, when printing shorter bags, be divided, if desired, into equal portions, so long as the aggregate length of these shorter bags does not exceed thecircumt'erence of the cylinder B, the portion allotted to each bag being equal and accurately placed.

The printing-cylinders are rotated, so that (for one stream of bags) one printing-surface is truly timed to meet each bag that is delivered by the bag-making machine. If there is only one printing-surface on the cylinder B, one bag only is printed at each revolution, one only being made on the main machine. If there is more than one printing-surface on the cylinder B, one revolution thereof will serve to print a like number of bags, that same number of bags being delivered from the bag-making machine, a defined portion. of one revolution serving to print one bag;

J camera;

In other words, the same number of printingsurfaces are presented by the cylinders there are bags delivered to them.

Since when printing two or more shorter bags the lengths to be printed do not fill the whole circumference of the cylinders, as is the case with one long bag, it is necessary that the surface speed of the printing-cylinders be greater than that of the feed of the short bags, in order that a gain of speed equal to the width of the intervening space maybe made and accurate meeting of the printingsurfaee and bag may ensue. Our method of feeding allows of this and enables our one imprint-to-one-bag principle to be employed over a large range of lengths of bags without changing the diameters of the cylinders; but

the speed of driving or the proportions of the driving-gear must be changed to suit the work of the printingcylinders.

Cylinder B is driven positively either by an endless pitch chain 0, passing round chain-wheels c and 0 the latter being mounted upon any convenient revolving shaft of the main machine (for instance, as marked 0 in Fig. 3) and rotated by any suitable power, or the-printing a1j 1)aratus may be driven by any suit-able moving part of the main machine by suitably-timed gear of any known description; or in some cases the printing apparatus maybe driven by the prime mover and its motion transmitted to the main machine, according as may be most convenient.

The surface speed of the printing-cylinders may equal but should not be less than that at which the paper passes into the main machine, and may exceed it for small bags to any workable extent, the limit being about three or four times the speed of the paper.

The eylindersA and B are geared together to revolve synchronously by spur-wheels a s b and arranged to make one complete or any 1 integral part of one revolution (such as onefourth, one-third, or one-half) for each bag made on the main machine, according as one 1 or several whole bags are printed in c0nseeutive order at each revolution. It is desirable that these cylinders should be adjustable with regard to the stream of bags passing be-} tween them for printing, so that the exactf position of the imprint on the bags may be insured.

For this purpose the driving-gear is made to be readily disconnected from the driven apparatus.

By one arrangement the? chain-wheel 0, driving the cylinders,is fitted; with a friction-clutch e, operated by a hand-.

wheel E, or a clamp or other equivalent means maybe substituted for throwing the cylin-- ders Aand B in and out of gear with the bagmaking machine at any time, so that they main machine.

The curved stereotype-plates or other printing-surfaces b may be secured to the impression cylinder B by catches sliding in longitudinal dovetail slots that admit of the printing-matter being set to any required position circumferentially or endwise along the cylinder. Ink is applied to theprinting-surface in any usual manner, or it may be eifected as follows: hiking-rollers f f f,with intermediate rider-rollersfff, are carried in suitable brackets secured to the side frames X. The bottom rollers f bear both on the ink-distributing drum G and against the printing-surface b.

Runners are provided on the inking-rollers ders A and Bare made adjustable as to their distance apart by means of set-screws h h, and they may be slightly separated at will by a suitable hand motion to prevent the cylinders printing when rotating, (for instance, in case the formation of the bags is int-errupt' ed,) so as to avoid inking or soiling of cylinder A.

Damping-rollers may be added to the impression-cylinder if lithographic or zincographic processes are used in printing.

All rollers are mounted in suitable bearings in the side frames X or in brackets attached thereto and not shown in the drawings.

The printing apparatus may be mounted bodily on a bed-plate P, so as to be capable of sliding adjustment and fixture by screws or other means to enable the printingsurfaces to be adjusted endwise to the line of bags without impeding the process of m annfactu re. The side frames X are provided with feet 00,

which slide in lateral grooves in the station-.

- as illustrated, of endless bands or equivalents 7t 75, extending to theprinting-cylinders and supported and guided where necessary by rollers 7t It. The bands It; 7.2, forming the feeding-bed K. maybe those that convey the bags to and from the main machine, and may be driven by that machine, or, if not used in IIS must be very light, so as not to interfere with the main machine, may be driven by it or by the printing apparatus. The speed of travel of the feed-bed K will usually be that at which the bags come from the main machine; but it may be geared to run at the same speed as the printing-cylinders. The bags rest on the bands k k by their own weight, and are delivered successively in regular line and order to the printing-cylinders. In some cases auxiliary rollers or bands, as at 79 maybe placed just above the feeding-bed K, approaching nearlytotheprinting-cylinders. These,lightly engaging with the bags on bed K, supplement their weight and insure regularity of feed; but in any case such extra pressure or hold the removal of the bags or cause liability to injury thereto when seized by the cylinders A and B, which travel, as stated, at a higher speed than the bed K. Some or all of the endless bands may pass round and return over the rollers is, just in front of the printing cylinders, or the outer bands may be passed between the printing-cylinders in the spaces left at the sides of the type by the absence of printing-surface, and these bands,

being continued on the discharge side, serve" to form. a receiving-bed Z and return guided i by conveniently-arranged rollers, as illustrated, the arrows indicating the direction of travel.

Instead of the endless bands k k we may substitute aseries of small rollers closely contiguous and provided or not with auxiliary weighting arrangements.

The bags deposited on bed K are carried forward and seized between the printing-cylinders A and B. They then immediately assume the surface speed of the said cylinders, and hence the necessity for the light hold by or on the feeding-bed K, as described; otherwise they would be torn or injured.

For the purpose of stripping off the bags from the type-cylinder B in case of sticking we adopt the following arrangementsz'Each printing-surface b is raised above the general surface of the cylinder B, and is usually made narrower than the bag, so that the margins of the bags extend beyond the printin -surface. In the intervening spaces endless bands of suitable material are passed between the cylinders A and B and round adjacent guide rollers, and thus work beneath the bag margins. These strip the bags off as soon as printed and force them toward the receiving-bed Z.

For the sake of distinctness these are not shown in the drawings; but for the same purpose we apply to the blanket-cylinder A one or more exactly similar bands 8 of india-rubber or other elastic soft or thin material that will not greatly affect the impression should they come upon it, and we employ a guide 3', as before, on the discharge side, the action of said bands being as above described.

WVe may employ, as an alternative means for freeing the bags, fixed strips 1 Fig. 4, of thin metal or other suitable material passing between the cylinders and printing-surfaces in a similar manner to the margin-bands above described. The strips 1? may be supported from either or both sides of the cylinders,or for the same purpose we employ a scraper-such as W, Fig. t-approachin g very closely to the surface of one or both cylinders for the whole or any portion of their length. A portion of the drying-cylinder W and its surrounding Web to is shown.

The receiving-bed Z is arranged on the discharge side of the printing-cylinders to receive and forward the printed bags to the drying-cylinder. It may be formed wholly or in part, as above described, by continuing the bands k k of bed K, or by the web w of the dryingcyliuder W, or by bands driven at the required speed from any convenient moving part. Auxiliary bands or rollers may be applied to guide the bags thereon but the delivery of printed bags from the printingcylinders is so free that the bags at once acquire the speed of the receiving-bed Z. V

Fig. 5 show part of a combined machine in which our improvements are arranged to print bags after they are completely manufactured, dried, and delivered from the drying-cylinderW. In the figures the referenceletters are the same as in the previous demscription, and the arrows indicate thedirection of motion of the parts. Here the printing-cylinders A and B are inverted, the cylinder B being driven by the chain 0 and chain-wheelsc 0 arranged and guided as illustrated, the wheel a being driven by the main machine. The bags on being freed from the drying-cylinder W by the scrapers, cords,

or tapes, as usual, are deposited on the feeding-bed K and by it fed to the printing-cylinders, and thence discharged onto a receiving-bed Z or into a suitable receptacle ,2. In this arrangement it is essential, as in the former arrangement, that the gearing should be so timed that the motion of the cut-off apparatus of the bag-making machine and printing-cylinders shall occur at equidistant periods of time, and this may be readily effected by any known arrangement of toothed and changed wheels without departing from the principle and essential features above set stopped and started as a whole, or the main machine, the printer, or the drying-cylinder may be started or stopped separately, as required, by clutch-gear or otherwise; but such ordinary mechanical arrangements form no part of our present invention.

Our improved apparatus may be arranged in any convenient mannerthat is to say, with the printing-cylinders inverted or disposed horizontally or in any suitable position in relation to the main machine and its drying-cylinder. In some positions it is advisable to apply on the feed side of the printing-cylinders one or more pairs of plain cylinders running at equal or very nearly equal surface speed to the printingcylinders for the purpose of feeding and guiding bags from the tra eling bed K, and in such case margin-bands may be led between these and the printing-cylinders for the same purpose, as set forth. Two or more sets of printing-cylinders may be provided, one set following the other, the impressioncylinders B B being arranged alternately above and below the streams of bags, so that both sides of the bags may be printed, and the inking appliances and printingcylinders may also be arranged to print the bagin several colors. \Vhere two or more sets are used, the covered cylinders A A may be fit ted with a set-off sheet to prevent trouble from the previously-printed surfaces setting oif their ink in the known manner.

One apparatus, arranged as first above described, may be used to print one side of the bags before they enter the drying-cylinder, and a second to again print them when discharged therefrom, the ink on the first side being thus dried.

What we claim as our invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. The combination, with the stationary bed for the printing apparatus provided with lateral grooves, of i the side frames provided with feet adapted to slide in said grooves, the printing-rollers journaled in said side frames, and the cover-plates for clamping the feet in said grooves, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

2. The combination, with the stationary delivery apparatus-of a bag-forming machine, of a laterally-adjustable bag-printing apparatus and clamps for securing said printing apparatus after its position has been adjusted, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

3. The combination, with the delivery apparatus of a bag-forming machine, of two sets of printingrollers, a drying'cylinder intermediate between the said two sets of rollers, and endless traversing bands for conveying the bags between the printing-rollers, whereby the bags are first printed in one color, then dried, and finally printed in another color, substantially as set forth.

4. The combination, with the delivery apparatus of a bag-forming machine, of the printing-rollers driven at greater speed than said delivery apparatus, a traveling feedingbed for conducting the bags from the delivery apparatus to the printing-rollers, and an auxiliary traveling surface above said traveling bed and adapted to press very lightly upon the bags, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

In testimony whereof We afiix our signat u res in the presence of two witnesses.

\VILLIAM AINSVVORTH. ROBERT PRICE STRACHAN. GEORGE IIENSIDJV.

Witnesses to the signature of \Villiam Ainsworth: l

J. FERAN, W. J. SULIs,

U. S. Vice-Consul, Liverpool.

Witnesses to the signatures of said Robert Price Strachan and George .llenshaw:

\V. 1;. WILLIAMS,

86 Thomas St, Bristol. Loam A. LATHROP,

U. S. Consul, Bristol. 

